Archive for Actionscript 3
April 8, 2008 at 3:25 pm · Filed under Actionscript 2, Actionscript 3, Adobe, Flash, Flex, Remoting
We knew this was coming for some time now and today Adobe finally released the 9.0.124 Flash Player which includes security updates that have an effect on any sites you may have built using AMFPHP, SWX, or any other Flash remoting services.
At issue is the crossdomain.xml file -- you'll need to add or update the file to ensure your services continue to function properly. Wade Arnold, a contributor to AMFPHP (which is also included with and used in SWX) has a great write-up on how to fix AMFPHP/SWX including a sample you can download and edit for your domain on his blog.
More details about the player, and the newly revamped Flash Player Download Center, can be found on Justin Everett-Church's blog posting about Flash Player 9.0.124. Adobe Developer Center has a helpful write-up about the exact changes made. Lastly, John Dowdell has an informative post with lots of helpful links.
Adobe has done a great job with communicating to the community that this change would be coming, and has provided a lot of resources to ensure sites were not affected. Today's information push is just another example of the great communication. Kudos, Flash Player team!
March 26, 2008 at 9:53 am · Filed under Actionscript 3, Flash, Open Source Flash
The Rich Media Institute is having official PaperVision3D training in Las Vegas this weekend (March 29/30) led by John Grden. Sometimes I feel as if I am the only Flash developer left without much PaperVision3D experience, so you can see why I'm so excited to be attending.
It looks like they still have some seats left, so if you have been thinking about going, come check it out. John has even posted a discount code for 10% off on the PaperVision3D blog and also wrote about what the course will be covering and how all Flash types (designer and developer) will benefit from the class.
15 hours of training in two days is going to be intense (and awesome), but hopefully the short taxi ride to the Vegas strip will provide a nice break in the evenings. If you also plan on attending, be sure to say hello!
January 25, 2008 at 11:14 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Flash, Open Source Flash
I have been using the open source BulkLoader AS3 classes since I read about it a few months back on the developer Arthur Debert's blog. When I first used the classes in FDT, the editor shows that the classes have errors in BulkLoader.as and LoadingItem.as. However, the project would still compile without issue so I just kept on coding, ignoring the little "x" as I finished the project. The issue is even marked as "WontFix" in the project's issue database on Google Code.
I am setting up a new project in which I intend to use BulkLoader once again -- and this time I'd prefer not to have FDT barking at me about code which I know compiles correctly, even in strict mode. So, I spent a few minutes and dug up how to fix the issues so that FDT quits complaining. Hopefully this saves someone else the time, and allows you to know your code is really error-free at a glance.
The issue has a proposed fix in the Google Code issue database, but *warning* you'll want to stay away from it, as the fix partially leads to more issues. The correct fix is actually found deep in FDT's forums, the gist of which is:
First, on lines 201-207 of LoadingItem.as remove all of the quotation marks and add a semi-colon at the end of the object definition. These lines should now read:
private static var classes : Object= {
loader: Loader,
xml: URLLoader,
video:NetConnection,
sound: Sound,
text: URLLoader
};
Second, change line 958 of BulkLoader.as to:
var res : * = item.content as type;
Note that the line numbers are for revision 107 : 0.9.4.1 and may change in future revisions.
January 23, 2008 at 3:14 pm · Filed under Actionscript 2, Actionscript 3, Flash, Flex
O'Reilly's Inside RIA site is off to a great start with a new article by Colin Moock, author of Essential ActionScript 3.0. In the article Colin attempts to answer the question: ActionScript 3.0: Is It Hard or Not?
I highly suggest reading the lengthy article, the gist of which is:
The most common laments I hear about ActionScript 3.0 are, "It’s too complicated," "It’s harder to learn/understand," and "It takes a lot more code to do things." Yet, rarely have I seen these complaints backed up by more than one or two examples. So let’s do some thorough investigation to see if ActionScript 3.0 really is as hard as people seem to think it is.
Like the users Colin speaks of, I have also often felt that using AS3 can result in more code than using AS2. While in most cases the additional code results in a more structured and OOP-sound project, that structure is not always necessary. I also felt that it was more complicated than AS2 once I started using AS3, but I have never heard anyone deny that there is a ramp-up period, even for the most skilled developers.
As more and more developers make the switch and as more clients require their projects be developed in AS3, most of us developers will no longer have the choice. This is the main reason I chose to make a concerted effort to learn AS3 and start using it in projects -- I didn't want to get blindsided with an AS3 project and all of the sudden need to spend most of the project schedule learning AS3. It should also be noted that just about every developer who I speak to about AS3 says they haven't looked back since transitioning to AS3.
I think for designer-types the situation is a bit different, however. For instance, I have lost count of the number of times I have been asked the question, "Should I switch to AS3?" by designers who are used to coding on the timeline. These designers can make their way around a Flash file with AS2, alter code they find on the internet, and have a functional project. In these cases, yes, AS3 seems like it is "too complicated" and "harder to learn/understand". AS3 is now a fully OOP language and without the base knowledge of OOP, one would be lost quickly. While these concepts can be learned, each person needs to decide if they would benefit from doing so. The general Flash concepts from AS2 have not changed in AS3 -- gotoAndPlay() and the like are still available. Loops, conditionals, and timeline functions all still work pretty much the same, so your base of reference for AS3 isn't too far off.
My take? Start using AS3 immediately. As a developer-type you'll be forced to learn it eventually, and you might as well start getting cozy now. If you are more of a designer-type you can still code on the timeline using AS3 if you prefer to do so, and by following some simple timeline coding concepts you could take your code to external class files once you feel comfortable doing so.
However, the big issue here is not one of just developer-types vs designer-types. No, it is that group in the middle that was starting to grow significantly due to Flash: the "designveloper" - those who have a great sense of design and the development know-how to make their visions a reality. Samuel Agesilas and his Saffron AIR application is a great example of this - a complex application that looks beautiful. I have also seen several speakers at conferences last year actually call themselves something along these lines. This group is now starting to shrink rapidly because of the additional OOP knowledge that is required with AS3, the perceptions of AS3 being "too complicated" and "harder to learn/understand", or just plain unwillingness to take the time needed to learn the new language. This is not to say it cannot and will not start to grow again once the Flash community becomes more comfortable with AS3, but that may take some time to happen. In the meantime, I'm doing as much as I can to stay a "designveloper" because I enjoy both the design and development. But, even with that mindful effort I have seen myself leaning more and more to the development side as I continue to program in AS3...
December 17, 2007 at 7:50 pm · Filed under Actionscript 3, Adobe, Flash, Flex, Open Source Flash
Go ActionScript Animation Platform has just been released by the talented (and former Portland resident) Moses Gunesch. You may know Moses as the developer of FUSE, one of the first (and best) ActionScript 2 animation engines. Moses is back with a community-led animation platform initiative which has been in the works for some time.
You can read more about it on the open source project's blog and website, but here is a quick overview from the project's website:
"The Go ActionScript Animation Platform ("GOASAP") is a lightweight, portable set of generic base classes for buliding AS3 animation tools. Go provides structure and core functionality, but leaves the specifics to you.
"Go intends to support both linear (tweened) and physics animation, and could theoretically be extended to other base types, perhaps Collada animation for example. However at the time of this writing Go is at an early stage and the physics side is yet to be developed. Parallel and sequenced tweens are already supported by several optional utility classes: PlayableGroup, Sequence, and SequenceCA – a sequence with "custom advance" options."
November 16, 2007 at 4:36 pm · Filed under Actionscript 2, Actionscript 3, Flash, Open Source Flash, SWFAddress
The long awaited update to SWFAddress has been released and is ready for download. Rostislav has been posting update notes listing new features, such as the new SEO abilities, all week leading up to the release.
New features include:
- Support for multiple Flash movies in the same HTML page and Ajax.
- Event listeners for ActionScript and JavaScript.
- New SWFAddressEvent class with support for INIT and CHANGE types.
- New unobtrusive SEO technique.
- Support for Adobe Flash CS3.
- Support for Flash Player 7 with the Flash/JavaScript Integration Kit.
- Support for SWFObject 2.0, UFO and Adobe's Active Content embedding.
- New strict mode that adds trailing slashes by default.
- New helper methods for link, window and popup management.
- Ability to configure the script with query parameters.
- The swfaddress.html is optional and not used by default.
- Lots of new and improved Flash based samples.
- Various optimizations and fixes.
- API docs for ActionScript 3 and JavaScript.
Rostislav has been hard at work on this project for quite some time, and the improvements include those which were the most requested by developers. I'm also happy to have been a part of this release by helping with the documentation and an AS3/Flash CS3 sample.
I should also note that rumor has it there may be some t-shirts available to those who donate to the project and help fund future development!
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